How Did a Travel Agent Help You With the Process?

If I may ask, how did a Travel Agent help you with the daunting process of planning a Destination Wedding? I have spent hours & hours researching potential locations and resorts on the internet for a DW and am wondering how a Travel Agent can help. Also, how did you find your Travel Agent?

The travel agent we are using is a family friend, so choosing her was easy. We first found a bunch of locations and resorts that we liked, based on tons of hours of research. We narrowed it down to about 5 or 6 and took them to her. She was able to give us a little more information about the resorts and also any feedback from what her other customers had said about the resort and personal experiences. From there we narrowed it down to 3 resorts and she was able to provide us with pricing, which really helped make our decision. She is dealing with all our travel while I'm dealing with the wedding planning with the resort myself. I know some TAs do both, but I prefer to be in contact with the resort wedding planners directly.

I am using a TA, and at first I wasn't sure about the TA I was assigned she just didn't seem to fit what I thought I wanted, plus English was not her native language and she didn't understand a lot of the questions that I had. So I had the same feeling as you as to why do I need her when I found BDW and I could do it all myself. What I love most is that my group rates go down if pricing goes down which it already has and I didn't have to ask her to do anything about it, I opened my email one day to an amended contract with better pricing. Rock on! Plus those are the types of details I do not want to worry about. I want to focus on the fun stuff and dealing directly with the resort and negotiating and all that is just not my idea of fun! She's not the one who will help with the details on the actual day but I trust that she is looking out for me and my guests in the long run.

We're taking the family on a 6 day cruise and getting married in the port of Ocho Rios. For me my TA has been invaluable because it eliminates a lot of questions I might would have to answer about the cruise itself.

Would you ladies recommend using a TA you can meet with in person or using one of the TA's from this site (which I have heard great things about)? Also, I'm not sure about when to enlist the help of a TA as we are very early in our planning process. How do they charge for their services (Or is that taken care of via commission from the resort we book with)?

I found my TA through a friend. She had used her to book her trip for a friend's wedding and said she was pleasant to work for. We met for an inital consulation and at that point I already knew where I wanted to do my wedding. When we sent out our save the dates, we put our TA's information on there and asked everyone to contact her directly. She has already taken everyone's deposits and will be following up with everyone for full payment. It makes it much easier on me that I do not have to worry about any of these things. She is also keeping lists of people that are attending my wedding, but not travelling on the same flight (they are from different cities/countries).

Also, I lucked out and she is going to my resort in November. So I'm going ask her to meet with my WC and take some photos of certain things for me - since I didnt get a chance to do a site visit.

It depends on how big your wedding is and how many guests you will have. If you numbers are quite large - I would hire a TA to deal with all the travel arrangements for you. It takes a load off of you!

For me our travel agent was crucial in making the beginning stages less overwhelming. There is SO many resorts to choose from and it was great to have someone to help and narrow it down!

Our travel agent also got better response from our wedding coordinator in the beginning, but it is no longer an issue.

Lastly, I think it really takes the pressure off of you and your fiance and not using your valuable time to have the agent coordinate bookings and travel questions. Whenever someone asks me something I can say "I don't know for sure, it will be best if you contact our travel agent".

Why I chose a TA? I want it to be hassle free so my guests can book airfare and hotel through the TA. Also the TA will be providing me with all my guests travel info. The other thing is the TA can negotiate for group discounts and various other things that I probably couldn't find by googling.